Reporter
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
There are 4477 articles by Bill Dries :
Council member Pearl Walker proposed the amendment that would give all city employees a flat 3% raise across all divisions, superseding the 5% raises the City Council passed in May.
The arrangement between the state and the City of Memphis is separate from an independent crime lab for Shelby County being pursued by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and District Attorney General Steve Mulroy.
Ronald Terry and Tim Johnson were in the same street gang and died five days apart in 2019. The investigation led to a guilty verdict in Memphis federal court last week and told the story of violence within the gang known as the Ghost Mob.Related stories:
Meharry’s expansion to Memphis is the first step in Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church’s $310 million, mixed-use development.
The century-old congregation would move from its current sanctuary to a new church at the corner of Poplar Avenue.
The trial that ended last week in Memphis with the conviction of Ghost Mob gang member Vincent Grant for the 2019 murder of another gang member unfolded against a backdrop of political change in the nation’s capitol.
Police brass have frequently said that it has become more difficult to stem gang violence because underlings in the gangs will often team up, sometimes with members of rival gangs, to commit crimes.
“There’s a lot of homeless children in Southeast Memphis,” Hospitality Hub Executive Director Kelcey Johnson said. “Southeast Memphis leads the county in evictions, almost three times as many as the rest of the city combined.”
Deputy Gov. Butch Eley has been part of Gov. Bill Lee’s administration for almost seven years.
The weeklong jury trial in Memphis federal court ended with the conviction of Ghost Mob leader Vincent Grant for the 2019 murder of a fellow gang member.
As it stands now, the Temple Israel building will come down to make way for Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church’s new church home.
The tour came the same day Musk announced his departure from the Trump administration.
A new plan for a local crime lab would focus on three specific areas with an estimated annual cost of $5.5 million. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and District Attorney General Steve Mulroy took the plan to Shelby County Commissioners Wednesday, June 4.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center has operated the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center since 2014.
The full commission has one more voting meeting on June 23 to approve an operating budget, a capital budget and set the county property-tax rate before the fiscal year begins.
There will be a final vote on a new program to activate affordable housing on land currently going into the County Land Bank.
A grassroots organizer emerged as the winner over a retired businessman and party activist.
Memphis Zoo CEO Matt Thompson talks on “Behind The Headlines” about rising costs and lower attendance figures as well as how the zoo’s focus on elephants in an upcoming exhibit.
“It’s about the mother of the child who is going to school with your child,” Hospitality Hub Executive Director Kelcey Johnson said. “After school you take your child home. The other mother is taking her child to truck stops.”
The announcement was the kickoff of rebuilding efforts for the historic church.
In an “apples and oranges” comparison, the Shelby County Trustee said her office and the mayor’s administration don’t project county revenue the same way.
A new coalition is hoping to jump-start the development of both rented and owned homes.
Memphis City Council member Dr. Jeff Warren dipped his toe across the city-county dividing line when he waded into a discussion about building a new jail instead of a new Regional One Health campus.
Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s scathing report highlighting police abuses of power, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said the city would not enter into any federal consent decree with the DOJ.
The scorecard tracks how the city’s representatives voted in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate where the state’s two U.S. senators have already indicated they favor it.